Ben Carson: ‘Will obviously listen’ to those pressing him to run for president

Dr. Ben Carson, Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon turned conservative hero, said Thursday that he would “listen” to those urging him to run for president, while insisting that was never his plan.

“As far as my running for public office, it was never my intention. I thought when I retired I was going to play golf and learn how to play the organ,” Carson told Newsmax’s Steve Malzberg. “But obviously the Good Lord had a different plan for me. And I will obviously listen but that is not what I really had intended to do.”

According to Carson, however, his current goal is to raise awareness about the current issues facing American society.

“My job right now is to try to make sure that the American people have their eyes open and recognize what is happening and understand that we the people are not each other’s enemies,” he said. “The enemies are those people jerking everybody’s chains and trying to make them think they are enemies and driving in wedges at any particular crack, divide and conquer.”